Australia to continue MH370 search

Canberra: Australia remains committed to the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, an official statement said on Friday. Flight MH370, with 239 people on board, disappeared shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur March 8, 2014 en-route to Beijing, said reports.

Director General of the Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation Azharuddin Abdul Rahman on Thursday officially declared the disappearance of MH370 an accident, and all 239 people on board the plane were presumed dead.

"The Australian government notes the declaration of accident relating to the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 that was delivered by the Government of Malaysia," the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) statement said.

"The Australian Government will continue to work collaboratively with Malaysia and China," the statement added.According to JACC's latest search report, four ships -- Fugro Equator, Fugro Discovery, Fugro Support and Go Phoenix -- were either in the search area or on the way to the search area.

So far, around 18,000 sq.km of the seafloor have been searched, which is around 30 percent of the priority search area.

Meanwhile, around 208,000 sq.km of the wide search area have been analysed and mapped.

With no significant delays with vessels, equipment or from the weather, the current underwater search area may be largely completed around May 2015.